I’m 34 going on 35, well past the point where I’m supposed to stop listening to new music, so at this point every year I keep expanding my palette I count as a bonus. I found new music in many ways in 2019: TikTok, Twitter ads, Spotify algorithms, live shows and, yes, the radio. I listen to new stuff in a less completist way than I did in the past, but I still love discovering a new band, track or album that becomes a part of your life.
For ten years now, I’ve been marking my favourite music of the year with a blog post just like this one. It started in 2010 back when I had a campus radio show with a three-part special spanning 41 songs and has followed an incredibly loose structure ever since: in 2011 and 2012 I wrote up my favourite albums, and since then I’ve done playlists ranging in length from 12 to more than sixty tracks.
This year I’m falling somewhere in the middle. First of all, recognizing we all have time constraints I’ve placed my top twelve tracks at the beginning of the playlist (though I haven’t ordered them). If you like those, I’ve got 23 for a total of just over two hours of musical goodness. Said the Gramophone rules apply in that no artist is to appear more than once.
I also had some favourite albums. They are:
You can stream my playlist on Mixcloud and Spotify, or download the mp3. I’ve also linked to individual YouTube videos in this full post.
Previous years: 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2000
Let’s begin the playlist the way I began my year: shivering in Los Angeles in January, fighting a flu. One day I think I stopped in every pharmacy in the downtown area trying to find the right cough drops.
Here come the heavy hitters. Lizzo and Billie Eilish are probably the biggest/breakthrough artists of the year, putting out stellar albums that found mainstream success. Where Lizzo is an accomplished musician and industry veteran putting out shiny, affirmative jams, Eilish is a teenaged Gen-Z’er using ProTools to explore the weirder, darker parts of her mind. What they have in common is a disregard for genre and expectations in favour of their own perspective, and we’re better off for it.
At first I wasn’t sure if Dedicated lived up to Emotion, Jepsen’s nu-pop classic that transformed her from top forty flash in the pan to an underground sensation. But repeated listens have revealed it to be every bit as worthy of a cult-like following, and honestly any of the album’s songs could have been on this list.
5. There Is Probably Fire – Dominque Fils-Aimé
This song is actually part of a three-part suite, but it’s a testament to Fils-Aimé’s talent that songs clearly conceived of in a sequence are completely arresting on their own, as well. Highly recommend checking out her discography.
6. Rebirth – Snotty Nose Rez Kids feat. Tanya Tagaq
What a rise it’s been from SNRK, from Kitimaat village to two-time Polaris Prize nominees, CBC Radio regulars and live show must-sees. Their production and guest spots are stronger now than they were on earlier releases, but their clear love of classic hip hop is still what carries them: dropping references to Outkast, Kendrick and other greats while talking about Indigenous politics in northern B.C. and beyond is the central attraction here.
7. Seventeen – Sharon Van Etten
I love this song the way I love “Maps” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and “Wake Up” by Arcade Fire. I love the slow build to an all-encompassing chorus, equal parts mournful and triumphant, that somehow demands you sing along despite being about the passage of time and loss of youth. This is my favourite track of 2019.
Back to Los Angeles now, but it’s not winter anymore. Sticky, sweet and weirdly familiar.
9. This Life – Vampire Weekend
Ezra Koenig has made his love of the Grateful Dead clear on his radio show, which is the only reason I have the Apple Music app at this point, but I didn’t expect that to translate into a Dead-inspired album album suite. Even more surprisingly, it absolutely works.
Rock album of the year. Punk’s not dead.
Britt Meierhofer of Prince George has said she formed Good Egg Records in part to hold herself accountable to a songwriting and recording schedule. A little over a year on, it’s paid off in the form of multiple label releases and live shows, as well as her strongest effort to date: this should be a radio hit, and has been in my head regularly since coming out.
12. Northern Love Affair – Digawolf
A late discovery for me (I literally didn’t hear Digawolf until New Year’s Day) I am in love with the sound of this band, which is part Tom Waits, part northern lights. Tracks on Yellowstone range from heavy rock to ballad, but this tribute to life in Canada’s far north is my absolute favourite, striking a middle ground while somehow being utterly tender and danceable at the same time.
You can’t have an honest year-end review of 2019 in music without Lil Nas X and this sneaky Soundcloud hit. Personally, I still prefer the version unadorned with any country stars or YouTube sensations, just a guy having some fun making music and taking the world by storm as a result.
14. Raven Stole My Wife – Jason Camp and the Posers
A few years ago I wrote about a Haida Gwaii-based punk collective led by SG̲aan Kwah.Agang (James McGuire) of Jason Camp and the Posers, but it wasn’t until this year that I got to see them in action at a sweaty live show that included traditional drumming, a line-dancing lesson and a mosh pit. Concert of the year.
15. Have You Both – Wild Belle
This is one of those songs that Spotify serves up to you, without context, but it still catches your ear.
Ditto.
Named after a Hawaiian beach, Lanikai actually hail from wintery Winnipeg — not that you’d guess it from these summery vibes.
I have a rule that I can never make my year-end music list until after listening to Said the Gramophone’s, because I’ll inevitably find a song I absolutely love on there. Case in point, this celebratory track from Nigeria.
19. Superhero – DJ Shub feat. Cadence Weapon
I enjoy every iteration of Cadence Weapon, but especially when he’s rapping over dissonance, in this case provided by former A Tribe Called Red member DJ Shub.
For whatever reason I think of Toronto as a summer city, and this song, which I discovered via a sponsored Tweet, of all things, help solidify that. “Monetize my pain.”
21. All I Want – Broken Social Scene
In which the supergroup invoke the globe-trotting sounds of Cornershop. Very late-90s-esque.
22. I’ll Be Back Someday – Tegan and Sara
23. Back In Your Head – Hannah Georgas
After crossing over to the dance/pop world in 2013 with Heartthrob, Tegan and Sara explored their indie-oriented roots with Hey, I’m Just Like You, an album of songs they initially wrote back in high school and re-recorded in their earlier style. Meanwhile, Hannah Georgas interpreted their 2009 breakthrough through a pop lens as part of her Imprints EP, which also includes covers of Janet Jackson, the Eurythmics and the Cranberries.
I’ve never made a huge effort to listen to Hinds, a Spansih indie rock group, but every time they pop up on one of Spotify’s algorithmic “for you” playlists, I enjoy them. So I should probably change that.
Another Good Egg signing, and a staple of Prince George’s live scene for years now, Crones put out a proper full-length this year, reprising a number of tracks that were already available, adding new ones and throwing in live favourites like this song, about a detective who surfs.
26. Hold – Clarimont the Second
I’m not actually sure this is a song so much as an interlude, but for some reason I love the whole thing– including the tape click and rolling around the kind of, sort of chorus. I don’t drive around aimlessly at night anymore, but this is what it sounded like when I did.
I have, on various occasions, wondered what happened to Vancouver hip-hop: there was a time when groups from the west coast were as big as anything coming out of Toronto, but ever since Drake, the 6ix has far eclipsed Van City. But it turns out there’s still a scene there, and Filipinix Kim Villagant, otherwise known as Kimmortal, is indication that it’s still worth paying attention.
Remember Ciara? Anyways, she put out an underrated gem this year. Here it is.
One of my favourite artists of 2018, Jessie Reyez laid relatively low this year, but this fourth-quarter ode to long-distance romance is plenty to carry us through to her next proper release.
30. Wishy Washy – Haviah Mighty feat. Omega Mighty
This year’s Polaris Prize winner, my favourite track from Mighty’s 13th Floor is this Caribana-inspired one co-produced by 2oolman of A Tribe Called Red and former Hamilton heavy metal drummer Taabu.
Nobody does laid-back guitar like DeMarco.
It actually took me a while to realize this was a song about colonialism and residential schools, I was just listening to the music. I am not entirely sure how I feel about an anthemic single that centres “genocide” in its chorus — is it the further commodification of other people’s suffering for the benefit of a bunch of white dudes? But here we are.
33. Don’t Know How To Keep Loving You – Julia Jacklin
Hoooo boy it’s time to get depressing on here. This is a devastating song about falling out of love, but one that’s tough to ignore.
34. Nights That Won’t Happen – Purple Mountains
The circumstances of this song, and the death of the person who wrote and performed it, are not things I knew before I heard this track. It’s devastating enough without that context.
35. Rise and Agitate – Amy Blanding
OK, let’s leave things on a more optimistic note. Recorded with a choir female volunteers in a Prince George church/concert space, Blanding provides the message needed to move forward: “Free the river’s flow/Mighty dams will break.”
HONOURABLE MENTION/BONUS TRACKS:
Inevitably, I miss or forget certain songs, so I want to throw a couple honourable mentions in here.
Sunflower – Post Malone, Swae Lee
The first addendum to my list is one that actually should have been in my 2018 playlist, “Sunflower” by Post Malone and Swae Lee from the Into the Spider-Verse soundtrack. I didn’t manage to see the movie until January, which means I didn’t get introduced to this track until then, which I can’t divorce from my love of the film itself, nor from hearing it blasting out of multiple stores during my aforementioned January visit to California.
The Statistics – Sparks in the Night
I… I don’t know what to say. I had finished uploading my playlist, doing the artwork and writing this post when suddenly I remembered “Wait, didn’t the Statistics put out their album this year?” Yes, yes they did, and the Prince George duo go hard for that radio play with this modern rock anthem.
Saltwater Hank – I’m Going to Throw My Shovel (as hard as I can)
This may go on a 2020 list, depending on whether Jeremy Pahl puts it on a proper release or if he keeps it as Side A of a two-track tree planting EP. Either way: fun song.
Ad nauseam
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